The present invention relates to a shoe cleaning device especially useful for a shoe having spikes on a sole, such as golf shoe, baseball shoe and so on.
In a city, road is mostly covered with asphalt or cement. Therefore, when a people is living in a city, shoes are not generally soiled. Even if the shoes are soiled, as long as the shoes are taken off in a house, the cleaning of the shoes is not so important.
However, shoes with spikes on the sole are often used on a natural field or ground. Since the spikes are attached to the shoes, soil is likely to stick to the shoes. Also, the shoes with the spikes are generally carried to a specific place, and after use, the shoes are taken off and are brought back with or without a cover. Therefore, it is preferable to clean the shoes after use to easily carry the shoes.
Especially, golf shoes are used in a natural field, and soil is likely to attach to the golf shoes. Also, in a golf course, in order to maintain lawn or grasses on a field and green, a large amount of chemical is put on the field and green. Therefore, it is preferable to clean the golf shoes after use.
In order to remove soil from the golf shoe, conventionally, there is a device to eject high pressure air from a nozzle. In this device, soil is blown away by high pressure air ejected from a nozzle handled by a user, but the removed soil scatters all around the area. In this respect, though the subject to be used is different, U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,218 discloses a nozzle to eject pressurized air to remove an attachment. In these mechanisms, soil attached to the shoes can be removed, but chemicals attached to the shoes are not removed.
A golf shoe cleaner was proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,750, which includes two large wheels with axial bristles, and a shaft connecting the large wheels and having radial bristles projecting outwardly from the shaft. The axial bristles projecting from the large wheels face two sides of a shoe, and the radial bristles contact a sole, by which soil attached to the shoe is removed. In this mechanism, soil attached to the shoe is removed, but chemicals adhered to the shoe is not removed.
As regular shoe cleaners, there are many devices, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,737,942, 4,233,707 and 3,048,867. In these devices, brushes are rotated to contact a shoe to remove soil attached thereto. Soil removed from the shoe may be collected by a vacuum force, and air may be projected to remove an upper part of the shoe. Further, hot air may be ejected from a device to dry the shoe.
In case the brushes are used to remove soil, since soil is likely to stick to the brushes, the brushes must be cleaned frequently. Especially, since a large amount of soil is likely to stick to the shoe with the spikes, if the soil is removed by the brushes, the brushes must be cleaned frequently. Also, the conventional cleaning devices can not easily remove chemicals attached to the shoes.
In view of the above, the present invention has been made, and an object of the invention is to provide a shoe cleaning device which can effectively remove soil attached to a shoe, especially shoe with spikes, without scattering soil around the shoe.
Another object of the invention is to provide a shoe cleaning device as stated above, which can also remove chemicals attached to the shoe.
A further object of the invention is to provide a shoe cleaning device as stated above, which can be formed and operated easily.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.